September 2009 Archives

parishweekly20090927.pdf

OOS 092709FINAL.pdf

1. Most recent government reports revealed the primary way all flu types are spread is airborne through unshielded coughs or sneezes. Please remember to have a handkerchief ready or lift your arm instantly and sneeze into your bent arm. (Yes, my mother would have cringed at this advice; ladies and gentlemen are just more proper! Well, this is 2009, not the 1950s when I was raised.) Now we are faced with a swine flu epidemic. Shield your sneeze. If you cough into your hand (a reflex action), cleanse it before shaking hands with dozens of people after worship or whenever.

2. If you have a cold, do not take from the common cup. You can always intinct (dip) if preferred when receiving wine. Eucharistic ministers will lower the cup, tilt it slightly toward you so you can see the wine level, and hold the purificator under the cups' edge, out toward you, to catch a drip should you do more than just barely touch with wine with the wafer. Communion in one kind (bread) is always acceptable; cross your arms across your chest and the cup will pass you by.       Peter Hogg

From the Interim Rector

eNotes From Eden

Being Led is Not for Sissies

 

"Led on their way by this triumphant sign, the hosts of God in conquering ranks combine."

  Lift High the Cross, Hymnal 473

 

I think often of the phrase, "Getting old is not for sissies." Tuesday a week ago, after my sister starting having headaches three days before, she went to have it checked. By Friday the doctors removed a golf-ball sized brain tumor. This past Tuesday, one week after hospitalization, she went to an in-patient rehab center  (intensive therapy 9-3 every day) with drill sergeants for therapists. Her wheelchair sat next to that of "the hulk." He was a big strong man who said that he never shied away from heavy physical labor all his life, but this forced attempt to put a clothespin on a piece of twine  - previously for anyone an almost subconscious task - was the hardest work he'd ever done. She agreed. Couldn't they just have a 10-minute break? They were both exhausted!

Neither had chosen any of this. They were led to where they were. Not by a malevolent, sadistic God but from the other side of the same coin of God's gifting that had given them the keys to the (creative) kingdom. They had and maybe will again participate in the precarious-yet-thrilling, provocative-yet-scary roller coaster ride we call life which leads us with increasing speed through the ever-changing seasons.